Michelle Mone, Baroness Mone

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The Right Honourable
The Baroness Mone
OBE
Mone in 2013
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
15 October 2015
Life peerage
Personal details
Born
Michelle Georgina Allan

(1971-10-08) 8 October 1971 (age 52)
Glasgow, Scotland
Political partyConservative
Other political
affiliations		Labour (until 2009)
Spouses
Residence(s)London, United Kingdom
OccupationBusinesswoman, parliamentarian
Known forFounder of Ultimo

Michelle Georgina Mone, Baroness Mone, OBE (née Allan; born 8 October 1971) is a British businesswoman and life peer. She has set up several businesses, including MJM International Ltd in 1996 and the lingerie company Ultimo along with her then husband Michael Mone. Other ventures include naturopathic 'weight-loss' pills, criticised by the British Dietetic Association, and a fake tan product via Ultimo Beauty.

Mone became a Conservative life peer in 2015. From 2020 to 2022, in a series of investigative pieces, The Guardian revealed that Mone and her children had secretly received £29 million of profits to an offshore trust from government PPE contracts, which she had lobbied for during the COVID-19 pandemic. The House of Lords Commissioner for Standards and National Crime Agency launched investigations into Mone's links to these contracts in January 2022.

Early life

Born on 8 October 1971,[1] Michelle Allan grew up in Glasgow's East End. Her younger brother died as a result of spina bifida.[2]

She left school aged 15, with no qualifications,[3] to pursue a modelling career. At 17 she met her future husband, Michael Mone, and by 18 years old, she was pregnant with her first child, Rebecca. She then converted from Protestantism to Catholicism and married Michael, an anaesthetist's son from a Catholic family.[3] The couple had three children during their marriage. On 27 December 2011, lawyers announced the couple's formal separation after 20 years of marriage.[4][5]

Business career

Mone obtained a marketing job with the Labatt brewing company and, within two years, had risen to become its head of marketing in Scotland.[3] She was then made redundant by the company, prompting her to set up her own business, and has since admitted that she had invented qualifications on her CV to obtain the job.[3]

MJM International

In November 1996 she founded MJM International with her then-husband Michael.[6] In August 1999, Mone launched the Ultimo lingerie brand at Selfridges department store in London. Mone came up with the idea for the Ultimo bra, the brand's first product, when she was wearing an uncomfortable cleavage-enhancing bra one day and believed she could create a more comfortable cleavage-enhancing bra.[7] Mone had read about a new silicone product while on holiday in Florida and approached the company to obtain its European licence to produce bras.[3] Mone has claimed that an Ultimo bra was worn by Julia Roberts in the Hollywood movie, Erin Brockovich, but this has been denied by the film's creators.[8] Ultimo went on to include other products, such as backless dresses and shapewear, which led to MJM International's growth.[9][10]

In 2014, a former operations director for MJM won a claim for unfair dismissal from her company after discovering that Mone had authorised electronic bugging of his office.[11] Mone threatened to sue her critics when it was revealed her company MJM International had paid a substantial sum of money into a controversial tax avoidance scheme, criticised by Chancellor George Osborne as "morally repugnant".[12] Following a test case brought by HMRC against Rangers F.C., the employee benefit trust (the type of tax avoidance scheme used by MJM International) was ruled illegal in November 2015.[13] Following the breakdown of her relationship with her then husband, Mone left the company briefly in 2013. The business assets were transferred to its parent firm, Ultimo Brands International Ltd, in a partnership with MAS Holdings.[6] MJM International was then dissolved. In November 2014, Mone sold down her stake in Ultimo Brands International to 20% to partner MAS Holdings.[14] In August 2015, Mone resigned her directorships of both MJM and Ultimo, saying she had sold 80% of the latter.[14]

TrimSecrets and weight loss

TrimSecrets were weight loss pills originally formulated by the naturopath, Jan de Vries. The product also consisted of diet and exercise advice.[15] In 2006 MJM formed a joint venture with Jan de Vries, taking a 50% share in the product.[16][15] Mone claimed that exercise and reduced caloric intake had no effect on her weight and has credited TrimSecrets pills with her weight loss.[15] Mone also falsely claimed the efficacy of the product had been proven in clinical trials, but when questioned further, she explained that approx. 60 users had completed a questionnaire but was unable to produce the results.[16]

In October 2013, Jan de Vries sold his interest in the company with Mone having 60% of the business and a silent business partner the remaining 40%.[15] In August 2015 it was reported that the company had made a loss in each of the last four years that accounts were available.[17]

In November 2015, Mone was criticised for using her "Baroness Mone"-styled Twitter account to promote TrimSecrets pills, although a spokesman for Mone said she had disposed of her ownership of the firm before her tweet. A spokesman for the British Dietetic Association said "there is no scientific basis or rationale for these products, they are making claims which are unfounded and feeding into public confusion around nutrition and pseudo-science."[18]

In 2007, Mone said she kept fit by "running around meeting to meeting".[19] On Loose Women in 2020, she said she lost weight through hiring a nutritionist and trainer full-time.[20]

Ultimo Beauty/Ubeauty Global

In 2012 Mone's company, Ultimo Beauty, launched a fake tan product.[21][22] In 2014 when announcing that she had sold most of her stake in Ultimo, she confirmed she had taken 100% control of Ubeauty Global, consisting of the assets of Ultimo Beauty.[23]

In 2016, after she was made a peer, Mone changed the company formation so that it no longer had to publish public trading accounts. In February 2017 accounts for the company were published, covering the time from 2014 to 2016 and it was revealed the company had assets of £23,000.[24] In March 2017, Mone announced that she had sold the company.[25]

Aston Plaza development

In 2017, Mone and her partner Doug Barrowman launched a £250m residential development in Dubai which they claimed was to be the "first-ever development to be priced in bitcoin". In April 2019, The Sunday Times reported that the development was "on hold" with the construction incomplete, while a spokesman for Mone said that it was going "extremely well" and was in the process of being redesigned.[26]

Equi cryptocurrency

In 2018, Mone and her partner Doug Barrowman launched a cryptocurrency called Equi through a company called Equi Capital.[27] It aimed to raise $80m which would be invested in startup companies.[28] Mone described herself as "one of the biggest experts in Cryptocurrency and Blockchain"[29] and promoted the project as the "bitcoin of Britain".[30] The company recruited 1,000 people to promote the cryptocurrency through social media, but they only raised £1,600. According to Barrowman, £5.4m of tokens were sold in a "pre-sale offering" but the public sale beginning in March 2018 raised only £540,000. By August 2018, The Sunday Times reported that the project had "flopped" and all investors had been refunded.[27] The Financial Times reported that it had "ended in a fiasco that exposes the total absence of oversight in the ICO market".[29]

Political career

Mone says she previously supported the Labour Party, as did her family, but withdrew her support in 2009 after the prime minister, Gordon Brown, increased the top income tax rate to 50%, also indicating that she would leave the UK. She further stated that Brown and his government mismanaged the country's finances during the global economic crisis.[31] During the London riots in August 2011, Mone called for the army to be brought in and tweeted "People who riot, steal, cover face deserve zero human rights".[32] In January 2012, she gave an interview to The Sunday Times stating her intention to move herself and her business to England were Scotland to become independent following the 2014 referendum on the issue.[33] However, despite Scotland voting No in the referendum, Mone confirmed a few months later that she was leaving Scotland.[34]

On 10 August 2015, the government announced that Mone would lead a two-part review into entrepreneurship and small businesses, particularly focusing upon setting up small businesses in deprived areas, under the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith.[35][36] On 27 August 2015, the prime minister, David Cameron, announced a list of new creations of life peers, including Mone.[37] Her inclusion drew criticism from other business leaders.[38] Some Conservatives questioned her suitability for the House of Lords.[39][40] Senior Scottish Conservatives also criticised Cameron's action, describing Mone as "a public relations creation, a personal brand rather than a serious businesswoman".[41]

Mone was criticised when her first vote in the House of Lords was to vote against a motion to delay government cuts to tax credits of around £1,300 a year for three million low-income families. Mone responded to the controversy by tweeting that people should "work hard" and not "look for excuses" for their own poverty.[42] In October 2016 she said that she was wrong to support the cuts and she regretted the way she voted.[43]

Attendance in House of Lords

In her maiden speech in the House of Lords, Mone stated "I look forward to playing a full and active role in your lordships’ house". The Times reported in 2018 that in the previous year, Mone had only attended the House of Lords on 12 % of the days in which it was sitting, missing important debates including on the Brexit bill.[44][29] Her low attendance led MSP Rona Mackay to label her the "Layabout Lady of Mayfair" and businessman Douglas Anderson, who had criticised her original appointment, called for her to resign.[44] By early 2022, Mone had made only five speeches in the House of Lords and asked 22 written questions.[45]

PPE Medpro controversy

Further information: Controversies regarding COVID-19 contracts in the United Kingdom

In October 2020 it was revealed that PPE Medpro, a company led by Anthony Page, a business associate of Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman, had been awarded a contract for £122 million to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) to the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.[46] Page resigned as secretary for MGM Media, the company that manages and receives payment for Mone's branding and media engagements and on the same day he formed Medpro.[46] In October 2020, a spokeswoman for Mone stated she "has no role or involvement in PPE Medpro", adding: "Mr Barrowman is also not involved in the company PPE Medpro and is not a Director or Shareholder."[47] It later emerged that a second contract for £80 million was awarded to Medpro even earlier when the company was just 4 weeks old.[48][49]

In November 2021, a Freedom of Information request revealed that Mone personally recommended the company to the government through its VIP fast-track lane for firms with political connections and that the company was awarded £200m in government contracts. This high-priority process was set up in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to bypass the normal competitive tender process for procurement that was considered urgent. It further emerged in January 2022 that Mone recommended Medpro for a government contract five days before the company had been formed.[50] At the time, Mone's lawyers stated that she "was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity" but documents leaked to The Guardian revealed that a director of the company was a long term employee of Mone's husband's company. WhatsApp messages seen by The Guardian appeared to show Mone discussing the size of garments that formed part of a contract. Lawyers for Mone and her husband denied the allegations.[51] Following a complaint by the Labour peer George Foulkes, the House of Lords commissioner for standards launched an investigation into the relationship between Mone and Medpro in January 2022.[52] On Wednesday 27 April 2022 Mone's homes in London and on the Isle of Man and associated business addresses were raided by the police, who have launched an investigation into potential fraud.[53] The National Crime Agency is pursuing a tandem investigation into PPE Medpro.[54]

In November 2022 it was revealed that she had received £29 million in payments from PPE Medpro to a secret offshore HSBC trust fund, of which she and her adult children were the beneficiaries. Her lawyer had previously claimed she did not declare PPE Medpro in the House of Lords register of financial interests because “Baroness Mone did not declare any interest as she did not benefit financially and was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity.”[55]

Awards and recognition

On 21 November 2002, Paisley University awarded her an honorary doctorate.[56] Mone was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her "services to the lingerie industry" in the 2010 New Year Honours.[57][58][59]

After consultation with the College of Arms, on 30 September 2015, she was created a life peer as Baroness Mone, of Mayfair in the City of Westminster.[60] She was introduced in the House of Lords on 15 October by fellow Conservative peers Lord Freud and Baroness Morris of Bolton.[61]

Personal life

Mone has appeared on a number of TV programmes, including The Apprentice and 71 Degrees North.[3]

On 26 December 2018 Mone announced her engagement to billionaire businessman Douglas Barrowman. They were married on 29 November 2020.[62] In December 2021, a wealth manager of Indian heritage accused Mone of sending racist text messages to him after the two were involved in a 2019 yachting incident in Monaco, which resulted in the death of a person. He said that Mone called him "a waste of a man's white skin" via text.[63] A spokesperson for Mone said she was not racist because "Baroness Mone and her husband have built over 15 schools in Africa in the past three years"; this was followed by a message from her lawyers, who said that Mone could not access her messages and had no "detailed memory of them".[64] The allegations of racism were referred to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards, but commissioners did not investigate the matter as Mone's comments were said in a personal capacity and not in her capacity as a member of the House of Lords.[64] In January 2022, the Metropolitan Police announced they were investigating the incident after receipt of an allegation of a racially aggravated malicious communication.[65]

References

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  2. ^ "Michelle Mone: The First Lady of Lingerie laid bare". Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
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  64. ^ a b Conn, David (2 December 2021). "Tory peer Michelle Mone accused of sending racist and abusive message". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
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External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michelle_Mone,_Baroness_Mone&oldid=1124976807"